EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State men’s soccer successfully opened the 2022 season with a 2-1 victory over Army West Point Friday night at a raucous DeMartin Stadium.
The Spartans used a pair of first-half goals with solid offensive play, then got resolute defensive effort to deny a second-half challenge by the Black Knights.
“I was really proud of the guys tonight, it was a tough game,” MSU head coach Damon Rensing said. “Army came in motivated. I thought we were really, really good in the first half obviously, and rewarded with two goals, but it’s college soccer team like Army is well-coached and they’re not going to quit. We gave up a goal to start the second half, but I thought we really responded and pushed. We were probably unfortunate not to get that third goal to kind of put the game away. But then at the end of the day, it’s a 2-1 game and our guys showed a lot of resiliency and a lot of heart and toughness. I’m just really proud of them.”
While Army had a slight, 12-9, edge in shots, the shots on goal were even at 4-4, as MSU capitalized on its chances and denied the Black Knights with a steadfast defense.
“The boys have been working really, really hard in the preseason. We had a couple of tough matches against Butler, Pittsburgh and Lawrence Tech, and the coaches prepared us really well,” Spartan newcomer junior defender Elijah Howe said. “It just feels great to have all that hard work really pay off, so yeah, we’re all really excited.”
Howe, a native of Canberra, Australia, was also excited to have his mother amongst the throng of spirited Spartan fans in the stands Friday night.
“It’s amazing. I’ve been over here since she 2018 and haven’t had mom come over once, so yeah, it’s a really special moment for me. So I’m really glad that we could show up for her,” Howe said.
Senior defender Will Perkins netted the first goal of the 2022 season in the seventh minute for the early 1-0 Spartan advantage to uncork the first green smoke celebration by the Red Cedar Rowdies. Fellow senior defender Nick Stone and junior forward Greyson Mercer got the assists.
Freshman forward Jake Spadafora netted his first goal for the Green & White in the 35th minute. Spadafora took some nifty nice passes from fellow freshman, midfielder Jack Guggemos, and senior midfielder Louis Sala and slotted it home just inside the left post past Army goalkeeper Tomas Hut and a 2-0 MSU lead.
“I mean, absolutely electric, I could…
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